Checkrein attachment



(No Model.)

GHEGKREIN ATI'AGHMENT.

No. 368,447. Patented Aug. 16, 1887.

NY PETERS P'hnlO-Ulhngnphflr. Washington. D. c

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CEPHAS L. BARD, OF SAN BUENAVENTURA, CALIFORNIA.

CHECKREIN ATTACHMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 368,447, dated August 16, 1887.

Application filed June 11, 1887. Serial No. 241,078. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CEPHAS L. BARD, of San Buenaventura, county of Ventura State of California, have invented an Improvement in Oheckrein Attachments; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to that class of checkreins and hooks which enable the driver, unaided by any extra line or string in his hand, to check his horse or horses at will by the driving reins or lines alone.

My present invention is an improvement upon Letters Patent No. 345,401, issued to me July 13, 1886; and it consists in the application of a single spring in the standard or post beneath the tilting-hook shank, which spring has its upper end adjustable to a point either forward or back of the fulcrum-pin, so as to act to hold the hook up or down, as the case may be.

Referring to the accompanying drawings for a more complete explanation, Figure l is a View showing the hook elevated and in engagement with the checkrein-slot. Fig. 2 shows the hook depressed, so as to release the checkrein therefrom. Fig. 3 is another form of spring. Fig. 4- is a partial View of the checkrem.

In my former patent I showed a checkrein having a regular checkingslot, a limiting-slot in the checkrein, and a check-hook fulcrumed in a' standard, and a device by which the hook might be engaged or disengaged from the hook-rein by raising or lowering the lines by the driver. This disengagement, however, was dependentin some measure upon the action of the horse himself, because after the check is disengaged it is necessary for the horse to lower his head to pull the checkrein forward, so that the slot will be clear of the book before the driver lowers his hand.

Hy present device is intended to overcome this difficulty; and it consists in such an ap plication of a spring beneath the fulcrum of the hook that its pressure may be transferred to a point either before or behind the fulcrumpin by the movement of the drivers hands.

A is the screw-standard, which is secured to the saddle or pad of the harness, and which has an arm, B, projecting to the front and curving upward, through which the eheckrein 0 passes.

In the top of the standard A is formed a slot, within which the shank D is fnlcrnmed by means of a pin passing through it. The front of this shank is bent or curved so as to form the hook E, while the rear end extends backward from the standard, and, curving upward, it has the adjusting-slots F made in it, these parts ofthe device not differing especially from those shown in my former patent.

In my present device I have made a slot or depression, G, which extends along the lower part of the shank D and beneath the fulcrumpi-n, as shown. The spring H (which is here shown as a spiral spring) is of such length that its lower end stands in the chamber or depression formed in the standard A, below the shank D, and its upper end presses against the shank Within the depression or slot G.

The spring may be either made a cylindrical spiral, as shown in Fig. 2, having the pin with the rounded top or head I, which will slip readily in the depression, or the spring may be coiled, as shown in Fig. 3, with the upper part tapering, and having a sort of head formed upon it for the same purpose.

The operation of this device will then be as follows: \Vhen the hand of the driver is raised, at the same time drawing back upon the reins until the slot in the checkrein is disengaged from the hook E, the point of the latter will be depressed below the rein. This movement places the slot or depression G at such an angle that the point of the spring II will slip to the rear end of the slot, and pressing against that portion of the arm which is behind the fulcrum will raise the rear end and will depress the front end of the hook E, maintaining the latter in that position until such time as the horse may lower his head and draw the rein far enough forward to disengage the slot from the hook. When it is desired to again re-engagc the slot and check the horse up, it is simply done by drawing the reins back until the check is drawn back to the proper position, at the same time depressing the hands, so as to throw the hook up, when the springwill again slip forward in the slot, the latter being inclined in the opposite direction, so that the front end is the highest, and

IOO

with a spiral spring having its lower end supported within the standard, and the upper end fitting into and acting against the depression I 5 in the lower part of the lever B, the upper end being free to slide from end to end of the depression as the hook is tilted in one direction or the other, substantially as described. I

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my 20 hand.

GEPHAS L. BARD.

WVitnesses:

A. D. BARNARD, JUAN Y DELA J UENA. 

